2013

December 2013: Suicide and self-harm in the Immigration Detention NetworkCommonwealth Ombudsman:
The Ombudsman’s office continues to monitor the department’s implementation of the recommendations of the SASH report.The department has provided details of its implementation program and we are pleased to note that seven of the nine recommendations are now fully implemented. We are continuing to liaise with the department on the implementation of the remaining two recommendations.These two recommendations concern the review and improvement of policies and governance frameworks for managing the risk of suicide and self-harm; and the inclusion of deaths in immigration detention in the National Deaths in Custody Program of the Australian Institute of Criminology.The department has greatly improved its reporting of self-harm incidents in the last 18 months. This reporting allows better monitoring of trends in suicide and self-harm across the detention network and includes details such as the rates of threatened and actual self-harm, comparisons between detention centres on a national level and the demographics of those attempting self-harm. The Ombudsman will continue to monitor this reporting and its effectiveness in addressing the recommendations of the SASH report.